Santa Rosa hopes new contract will solve pier woes

MILTON — Issues and complaints related to the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier have been coming in for much of the more than two years the pier has been reopened.

Both commissioners and pier managers blame that on a poorly written contract between Santa Rosa County and Navarre Beach Fishing Pier Inc., the pier management company run by Navarre siblings Dorothy Slye and Everett Ratliff.

Santa Rosa County commissioners on Monday discussed having county staff rewrite its pier contract to make it simpler yet more specific about the hours of operation, payments and appropriate uses.

“All of these things need to be clarified,” said Commissioner Jim Williamson. “It’s been a work in progress, and everybody’s got a difference of opinion and misinterpretation. And I think we need to try to work to make it as simple as possible.

“From day one, I think it’s been a very bad contract,” he added. “A lot of things have been confusing to everyone.”

The latest controversy surrounding the pier erupted after Santa Rosa County officials decided to close the pier on Aug. 28 and 29 because of the impacts of Hurricane Isaac, but Slye decided to open the pier for nearly two hours on Aug. 28 because she had not seen an email to her from the county advising her to keep it closed.

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office eventually responded to the pier and forced everyone to leave.

“I’m asking to be treated like every other business on Navarre Beach,” Slye said. “If you want us to shut down, please pick the phone up, call me. Don’t depend on a communication through an email blast. I don’t check my email.”

Monday’s discussion turned heated at times.

County Commissioner Bob Cole accused fellow Commissioner Jim Melvin of instigating the controversy by calling Walker on Aug. 28 and demanding the pier be shut down.

“We cannot get back into micromanaging this pier,” Cole said. “We’ve got a manager out there that makes the calls. Every time we get a lightning storm or a tropical storm go through, whatever goes on, this staff doesn’t need a commissioner making a phone call stomping his feet or whatever it takes to get something done and have another commissioner doing the same thing in the opposite direction.

“We owe it to this staff to give them some firm direction,” Cole added.

Melvin disputed Cole’s version of what happened.

“Commissioner Cole made an assertion that wasn’t a fact and proceeded to argue as if it were a fact,” Melvin said. “He can do that. It’s cute, but it doesn’t prove anything. My inquiry to the administrator was whether the pier was open or closed … That was the extent of my involvement and it will continue to be my involvement as long as I serve as a commissioner in District 4.

“Public safety is our number one responsibility and I take that very seriously,” Melvin added.

Commissioners are expected to vote on directing staff to begin rewriting the county’s contract for managing the pier at its Thursday meeting. Slye’s existing contract expires in about nine months, and the county is expected to seek bids for the contract late this year or early next year.